Courts may be lenient with Lev Tahor: Lawyer

A member of the ultra-orthodox Lev Tahor sect walks across the roadway leading into their enclave at Spurgeon's Villa, north of Chatham, Ont., while Chatham-Kent police keep watch over the community on Wednesday, March 5, 2014. (VICKI GOUGH/ QMI AGENCY)

Trevor Terfloth, Patrick Maloney, QMI Agency

LONDON, Ont. -- The Lev Tahor adults who fled Canada with their children to escape child-welfare officials may be shown some leniency by the courts now that they're back, one legal observer says.

Members of the Orthodox Jewish sect high-tailed it out of the country last week after a judge ordered officials in Chatham, Ont., to seize the kids amid allegations of neglect and abuse.

Six of the children and three adults were held at the Trinidad and Tobago airport -- and sent back to Canada late Saturday, where the children were taken into the care of Chatham-Kent Children's Services officials.